Estrogens are great hormones!
They are part of what make women feminine and different from men which I am sure most men are very happy about most of the time.
Estrogen has 400 or more important functions in the body and is needed for optimal health for men and women. Maintaining tissue elasticity and strength, which promotes smooth skin and helps prevent wrinkles.
It also helps tissues and muscles that we don’t see, but can feel the results if our estrogen is not balanced – the vagina and urinary tract. Sex becomes more difficult as the vaginal walls becoming thinner and stretcher, creating less lubrication and a drier vagina.
The urinary tract tissues react similarly. Infections are more common and harder to treat. Incontinence, often thought to be an inevitable part of aging, is often due to a loss of urinary tract muscle tone in response to low estrogen levels.
Cardiac and Vascular Health
Estrogen relaxes the walls of arteries, improving cardiac output, blood pressure, and fibrinogen (a protein that creates blood clots) levels. Estrogen also lowers C-reactive protein, reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Brain and nervous system – mood, depression, memory, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s.
Ever complained of feeling “foggy,” losing track of your thoughts, words, or blocks of knowledge such as how to get from one location to another?
Ever felt like ripping off someone’s head for no reason? Deficiency of neurotransmitters, which estrogen is involved with, can be related to a sluggishness that is often written off to “getting old and slowing down” or maybe just “you’re depressed about your … and need to get over it.”
Bones!
Estrogen helps prevent bone loss and works together with calcium and other hormones and minerals to build bones.
Eyes!
Vision is affect as eye shape changes with hormone levels, explaining why your arms are too short. Dry eyes and cataracts also become factors.
Estrogen levels affect the estrogen receptors of targeted tissues of the breast, uterus, brain, bone, liver, heart and other tissues. Lowered levels of estrogen are linked to impairment of the immune system. Estrogen interacts with other hormones, such as the thyroid hormone, influencing its bioavailable levels, thus one’s metabolism.
It’s also important for insulin-sensitivity. Insulin moves glucose into cells, nourishing cells with energy to carry out their work. Under stress, the adrenal are affected which affects production of estrogen.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of confusion about estrogens. The word “estrogen” is used loosely to include all types of estrogen such as animal estrogens, synthetic estrogens, phytoestrogens (plant estrogens), and xenoestrogens (environmental estrogens).
Just like there are good and bad fats, or good and bad carbs, there are good and bad estrogens. It is the type which makes a difference to how it functions in the body.The ones that are not so great are the synthetic compounds in our environment, called xenoestrogens. These compounds cause problems for both men and women.
Xenoestrogens don’t react the same in the body as our own natural occurring estrogens. Found in hormone drugs, the air we breathe, pesticides, commercial dairy, meat, eggs, and soft plastics like milk or water bottles, etc they are harder for the body to eliminate which creates health problems.
Better for you are the plant estrogens which mimic the body’s weaker estrogen, estriol. Found in herbs, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, they also contain vitamins, minerals and fibers which are very beneficial to the body. A diet high in good fats, lower on the glycemic index, and higher on the phytonutrient index is crucial to balancing estrogen levels in particular and hormone health in general. Good fats can increase estrogen production by 30% while helping the cells take up the hormone more effectively. Enough fiber will inhibit the absorption of estrogen into the body including xenoestrogens.
Still having problems? Need to do something extra to encourage PMZ? That’s Postmenopausal . Zest –living your life to the fullest! Consider some of these factors to balance estrogen. Detox your liver and clean the backlog of trains out of your tunnel (colon) with Tiao He Pak and Lolco fiber.
F.E. Formula or Women’s Formula spells freedom from hot flashes, cramps, nervous tension, PMS, and vaginal dryness as one happy customer will testify from using the Women’s Formula, “…” found it reduces, if not eliminates, most of my PMS symptoms and balances hormones. It also increases libido levels.”
“Keep cool” remedies that balances estrogen and nourish the glands to promote healthy functioning!
Stress suppresses estrogen function. Decrease your stress by slowing down, relaxing, and having fun. Then build up your adrenals with Adrenal Support. Make sure your thyroid is performing optimally for a healthy metabolism.
This article by herbalist Lorene Benoit first appeared in the Herbal Collective. Read the magazine online – www.herbalcollective.news/magazine.
